Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he has ''no idea'' if he'll run for reelection to the Senate in 2024 and will decide after next year's midterm election results.
''I have no idea. I'll make a decision after [the] 2022 election, November, my term will be up in 2024 ... I would make a decision then; I wouldn't make it now,'' Manchin told WV MetroNews' Hoppy Kercheval on Friday.
Manchin was reelected in 2018 when he narrowly defeated Republican state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey by about 20,000 votes, or roughly 3.3%, per RealClearPolitics. The margin, which was much closer than initially predicted, was attributed to the popularity of then-President Donald Trump, who endorsed Morrisey.
Trump won West Virginia two years before Manchin's reelection by over 300,000 votes, or 42.2%, the most significant margin of any presidential candidate from either party in the state's history.
Manchin is the only Democrat to hold statewide office left in West Virginia, a state that 20 years ago consistently voted Democratic both locally and federally.
''The Democrats walked away from me,'' said Gov. Jim Justice, who was elected as a Democrat in 2016 but became a Republican in 2017. ''I tell you as West Virginians, I can't help you anymore being a Democrat governor.''
Manchin is also one of the few red-state Democrats left in the Senate altogether. Three red-state Senate Democrats lost in 2018: Claire McCaskill in Missouri, Joe Donnelly in Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. Only he and Sen. Jon Tester of Montana survived.
Tester is also up for reelection in 2024, and like Manchin, he hasn't yet announced if he'll run again.
A center of attention in an evenly split Senate with President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" plan in the purview, Manchin dismissed that either stressor has affected him.
''Heck no, it doesn't. It's not going to change me,'' Manchin assured Kercheval.
Manchin told Politico in 2018 that ''It's my last campaign for Senate, I know that. I know that for sure.''
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